HC reserves verdict on Panigrahi's bail plea

The Orissa High Court today reserved its verdict after completing the hearing on bail applications filed by businessman and High-Tech Group Chairman Tirupati Panigrahi and two of his associates.
Panigrahi and his associates were arrested in December last year on charges of fraudulent land deals and cheating.
A single-judge bench of Justice B N Mohapatra reserved the verdict after jointly adjudicating over all the five cases registered against the three by the state crime branch police.
The High Court also asked the counsels appearing in the case to submit their written arguments to court within three days.
"The High Court completed analogous hearing for bail on all five cases registered against the applicants and reserved its verdict," informed Panigrahi's Counsel Dharanidhar Naik.

Naik in his argument said substantial investigations into the cases are over and the accused are in jail for over three months now and hence they should be granted bail.
He said the promoters of the company are taking sincere steps to return back the amount to the investors and they do not have any intention to cheat them.
The government counsel, however, objected to the bail applications saying the accused are influential and they should not be granted bail for there is always a possibility that they could manipulate the evidences.